


Rumour mill

by katiebuttercup



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back
Genre: Alternative universe everyone lives, F/M, Three years and they still haven't got their shit together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2018-09-25 17:31:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9834725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katiebuttercup/pseuds/katiebuttercup
Summary: Jyn's just glad that she and Cassion are no longer the rumour mills favourite topic.She just wishes she knew what they were.





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: all characters belong to their respective owners 

"--you scruffy looking nerfherder!" Jyn doesn't look up at the strident voice as it carries through echo base. Nor does anyone else although she is aware that underneath everyone's dogged show of carrying on with whatever task is in front of them, they are listening carefully. Probably with score cards. 

If Leia is this upset, Solo probably hit a nerve. 

Point to Solo then.

Jyn doesn't keep score, she's too old and cynical, too used to the crust of iron that has slithered into her soul. Surviving Scarriff has only hardened it. 

Besides it's a welcome distraction from whatever the hell sparked between her and Cassian and then promptly died after Scarriff. 

At least now the rebels have a real romance to focus their attention on. Han and Leia talk a big game but it's inevitable, everyone knows that. Or it's a future homocide that rebel intelligence is going to have to clear up. 

Leia enters the room at last, her cheeks are slightly red but that's the only sign that moments ago she was shouting at Solo like two children in the crèche. 

Jyn likes Leia. She shouldn't, considering who she is. But if Jyn is good at one thing it's spotting a fellow fighter and Leia Organa, desipite her privilege and heritage was a fighter.

Leia gave nothing but one hundred percent to the rebellion, taking on jobs far below her rank, anything that might inch the rebellion closer to victory. She had no airs and graces. When Leia spoke to you it was as a commander not a princess. 

Leia saw her and to Jyn's surprise made a beeline straight for her. 

"Sargent Erso I saw that you were briefed to go undercover with Captain Andor..."

Something akin to a vibroblade inserts itself under her ribs.

"He made other plans." Jyn says as deadpan as she can manage. He's avoiding her as much as she is avoiding him. It's working perfectly so far despite the increasing furrowing of Chirrit's forehead. 

After Scarrif... well there hadn't been much after Scarrif. They'd been extracted. Jyn had let her customery mask fall when she realised all of their little band had survived. Even K2 had brought a smile to her face.

But it hadn't lasted. Like everything in Jyn's life. She had tried and failed to speak to Cassian but a lifetime of running from anything that could hurt her had left her with little more that curt nods and stilted silence. 

She suspected it was the same for him. And so whatever could have been between them had flickered and died. 

She's surprised even though she shouldn't be. 

A furrow not unlike chirret's appears in Leia's pretty face. 

"Is there a problem between you and Captain Andor that I should know about?"

The irony is almost painful. There is no problem  
between her and Cassian because there is no such thing as a Jyn and Cassian. 

But Leia doesn't need to know that. 

"No, no problems I just think he'd prefer someone more experienced in the field."

Leia's fine eyebrow lifts and Jyn can almost here her say 'more experienced then the woman with multiple alias and years running and hiding from the Empire' but she doesn't. 

She clears her throat and looks around but since the show between her and Solo is over everyone has lost interest. 

She sounds young and uncertain, Jyn realises. 

I can't imagine what you've gone through," Leia begins. There is no pity in her voice. Just grim understanding. Jyn thinks of scarrif. Of Jedha. Of Aldeeran.

"I know how being thrown together with people can... well it can be jarring" Leia says, for once she sounds like she isn't in complete control of what she is saying. Like she's sounding it out for the first time as it comes out of her mouth. 

"And feelings can be new. And strong. And sometimes that's all it is, just some spark you think will die once you get back to your real life."

Leia looks straight at Jyn. Jyn looks right back.

"Sometimes they don't, sometimes they are just hiding and you think it's all over and then it hits you"

How does Leia know how Jyn feels? How can she put her finger on the thing Jyn has been struggling with for years with the accuracy of a sharp shooter?

Then she thinks of Solo and realises that of course Leia knows how she's thinking. 

Leia pretends not to think of Han the way Jyn pretends not to think of Cassian. 

They are doing a pretty shoddy job if the look on Leia's face is anything to go by. Leia doesn't look different, but Jyn knows that mask, she wears an identical one. 

There is silence. Jyn isn't ready to back down yet. She's too hurt, Cassian is too hurt and she doubts either of them are going to let down their shields long enough for the other to potentially rip away whatever Scarriff hadn't already taken.

"I'll take you off any missions involving Captain Andor if you like," Leia says slowly, reluctantly.

Jyn wishes her nod was more enthusiastic but she hadn't got the energy. They've already separated themselves. Why not make it official?

Leia looks displeased but she looks at her datapad, pretends to stop at a random point. If Jyn wasn't so practiced at deceit she would have believed Leia came upon the name accidentally. 

"Perhaps you would like to be paired with a captain a Solo, he works in a similar field, undercover work and smuggling I'm sure with your history you..."

Oh force no!

As much as Jyn may not want to deal with whatever died between her and Cassian she definitely didn't want to get in between Leia and Han. 

As much as she liked Leia, as much as she respected her grit and resolve as a soldier. As much as she realised that Leia was as broken as her in some ways, she wasn't about to let Leia use her as a human shield. 

"I was thinking about doing some solo work," she ignored the pun, "I don't play well with others."

Leia's gaze tells her exactly what she thinks of that statement. 

But it could be true, Jyn thinks almost desperately. It was true once, it could be true again. 

Leia scribbles on the padd with a stylus, unhappy but understanding, drawing a line. 

Now all Jyn has to do is not step over it.


	2. Flight risk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Han and Jyn are good at running

"I heard you were bailing,"

Han pauses in the middle of handing a box of supplies to Chewie and stares down the landing ramp at Jyn. 

The girl attempts nonchalance but every so often she glances around her as if worried someone is looking for her.

Han moves, standing at the top of the ramp, one arm braced against the frame. 

"Maybe. Who told you?"

Jyn shrugs, "scuttlebutt" 

Han rolls his eyes but doesn't deny it. It's true. 

Jyn seems to rally herself, clearing her throat. 

"You want company?"

Han is surprised, despite himself. The kid was always a flight risk, he knew the signs but he'd figured she was in for the long haul because of Andor. Or maybe, like him, she was tired of the holding pattern. 

Being second to the rebellion got old really fast.

"Two heads are better then one right?" Jyn says. Chewie roars his displeasure, but to Jyn's credit she doesn't flinch, just amends her statement. 

"Three heads are better then two" 

Han considers, she's good, he knows. Surviving scarriff doesn't come cheap. She's a fighter. He sees himself a handful of years ago in her. 

"I'm payin' off Jabba," Han says, he's not sure if he's trying to frighten her off or not. 

Jyn shrugs again, "Jabba doesn't scare me,"

He believes her. Mostly. 

What is it with him and tiny brunettes anyway?

He sighs. this is a bad idea. But he's fairly sure Jyn would find a way to leave with or without him. Might as well have some company.

He doesn't say anything about what they might do after paying off Jabba. He doesn't have a clear plan and he suspects Jyn doesn't either. They just need to get out. Be anywhere but here before this thing that hangs unspoken collapses on top of them.

"When are you ready to go?" 

Jyn hefts the strap of a duffel and grins, all bared teeth. 

Behind them rebel personnel walk back and forth engrossed in their business that had rapidly become his buisnsss. 

But it doesn't have to be, Han tells himself. There's still time to save himself. He tells himself that until he believes it. Till he can say it to Chewie's face and not flinch.

Chewie barks a question about Cassian. About Leia. Han ignores him, offering Jyn a hand. After a moment Jyn takes it.


	3. Echoes of past mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Han and Jyn have sex

The payoff to Jabba goes remarkably well. In anyone else's eyes it would have been a disaster but Jyn and Han have lived by the skin of their teeth for what feels like forever so a mollified Jabba feels like a win. 

They end up in bed together because it's where they've been headed since Jyn stepped on board. It's the most fun Jyn's had in a long while. Han is definitely a scoundrel, definitely knows his way around the female form and so Jyn let's it happen with only a whimper of something like a conscience flaring up. She's good at stomping on that anyway. 

And it's good. Jyn hadn't been touched for a long time, some of it her fault but she's blaming most of it on Cassian and his focus on duty and.... Jyn shuts her eyes, kisses Han to get rid of the taste of his name on her tongue, unspoken but it's still there. It burns like acid. 

 

Han's fingers slide through the edges of her hair, he wishes it were longer, she knows, darker. She hears Han's rough endearments and wishes for an accent. 

But life has never given either of them what they want so they make do. And Jyn has no complaints so far. 

Jyn collects a fistful of dark hair at the nape of his neck and gives a gentle tug till his eyes meet hers. 

"You're crushing me," Jyn says. Han laughs but levers himself up onto his elbows. He's still on top of her but at least his body weight isn't pushing her into the mattress. Not that she'd been complaining earlier but now Jyn needs a little breather. 

"I told you you could be on top," Han says, he rolls off of her until he's lying beside her. Jyn watches his chest move up and down still glistening with sweat. 

Jyn huffs out a laugh. He's not wrong, usually she is--but--

Her conscious gives her a swift kick in the gut but she ignores it. Like she's ignored all previous pain up to now.

"Good to know I've found your kink Solo, bossy women on top" 

For a moment it looks like she kicked him in the gut, metaphorically speaking and Jyn realises she's trodden close to speaking about the things they left back on Hoth for a reason.

She slaps him playfully on his toned stomach as she sits up and pulls his shirt over her head, it's bigger and warmer and right now she doesn't want to be in her clothes. They feel too much like a uniform she's trying to shed. She wants a new skin. The old one hurts too much. 

 

"I need caff" she announces, trying for normal, the ghost in Han's eyes recedes, his good nature returning. 

"We've got money from Jabba now, we could get the good stuff" 

"I like my caff black," Jyn tells him sliding out of bed, letting the shirt fall into place. She doesn't feel like herself. It feels like a good start. 

"Like your soul?" Han asks, 

Jyn puts her hand over her heart, swooning like an actress in a holo drama, as if he has mortally wounded her. She keeps the act going until she stumbles into the hallway, han's laugh echoing behind her. The floor is cold beneath her toes but Jyn doesn't let it bother her. She's been cold before. She slows but doesn't stop as she passes Chewie who lets out a soft, long whine, she's fairly sure he likes her only slightly more that K2 did.

She expects disapproval in the Wookie's face but instead there is sadness. For her, and for Han. 

"We can't go back, Chewie." Jyn finds herself saying. It's not as defensive as she would like. It sounds like the old Jyn. 

Chewie lets out a longer whine, she doesn't speak Wookie but she doesn't need to. 

The Rebellion would have moved on from Hoth. They had no leads to where a new base may be. It would be a fruitless task. 

And even if they could go back, even if, by some chance the rebellion let them back in they would be right back to square one. 

And Jyn is sick and tired of square one. It feels like being back in prison. With only slightly better food and surroundings. 

If there is one thing she knows she and Han agree on is that forward is always better.


	4. Wherein darth Vader plays matchmaker

The Empire sprawled across the galaxy like a plague and yet they could not wipe out the rebel alliance. Han had lost count of the numerous times he and Jyn had crossed paths with his former allies, although most of his encounters were with insurgents far enough at the edges of the rebellion that word didn't spread to high command. 

He doubted the alliance would risk resources hunting him down but he knew enough about the workings of the rebellion to be dangerous. He wondered if the alliance worried about Jyn. The girl could be even more of a threat especially since she felt abandoned by the rebels. 

It's these thoughts that meander through his head when the fighting starts.

He and a Jyn are far enough away from the rim that they thought they were safe but apparently the rebellion had had the exact thought he and Jyn had. 

A small supplier, eager to make money from both sides.

Han sees the rebels first. He can tell them apart from the real patrons easy enough. It takes him longer to see Andor, effortlessly blending into the shadows and then he sees Jyn and the moment she sees Andor. 

Her expression freezes, Han can almost see the machinery in her head creaking. Han wants to push her towards the spy. She's young, they can work it out. But before he can Jyn grabs him and hauls him unceremoniously through a side door and into the busy street. She walks faster then those around her and Han grabs her hand to slow her down. They need to blend in.

And that's when the screaming happens. A moment later a body is flung through a window and falls to the floor like a children's toy. The next sound is the snap hiss of a lightsaber and Han's stomach fills with dread. 

There is only one person in the galaxy, beside the kid's who uses such an archaic weapon. 

Vader. 

Every instinct Han has urged him to run but Andor is in the bar and other people Han knows are a Leia's people. It takes a moment then he and Jyn launch themselves into the chaos. 

People are being flung left and right. Vader's power is terrifying but Andor is still doggedly fighting. Jyn downs a storm trooper and then another and a third.

Jyn makes it to Andor's side, grabbing his arm and yanking without so much as a hello. 

"What are you doing here?' Andor yells. 

"Saving your ass!" Jyn shoots back.

"You deserted us!" Andor snarls. Something like guilt unfurls in Han's stomach. It sounds far too much like something her highness would say. 

"I...I didn't run I just needed....."

"What?" Cassian demands but his voice trails off. There is a horrid silence which lasts only a moment and then Vader's ghastly breathing fills the room. 

"Perhaps you would prefer to finish this lovers quarrel in an empiral prison"

Vader's deep timber voice doesn't change through the vocorder but Han thinks there is something like grim amusement in the monotone voice. 

There is little left of the bar, except for a growing pile of bodies. Vader is calm, he had them. 

Except it's not. Darth Vader swings abruptly to dodge a freestanding beam which no longer holds up a wall. Andor doesn't miss a second, he grabs Jyn and runs. Han takes the distraction but makes sure to keep a few paces back. Jyn will go back to the rebellion it was written on her face the moment she saw Andor. But he...he can't go back. 

He'll miss Jyn but he has Chewie. It's not half as bad as leaving Luke, the kid needed supervision and Leia....well he had obviously been wrong. Leia didn't want him. She wanted him to help the alliance. The big glaring wookie in the room that Leia apparently couldn't see. 

The crowd surges in panic but Han rides it out with the ease of a pro.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Jyn and Cassian, each holding their arms tightly across their chests. They are arguing. 

"Hey!" Han interrupts them. The time for a heart to heart is back in the falcon where it's safe, "C'mon we gotta move before Vader tracks us"

Cassian and Jyn eye each other wearily, nursing their resentment but they follow without comment. 

One last act of mercy then, Han thinks. Getting Andor back to the alliance. 

And then he's gone.

For good.


	5. Broken hearts don’t mend here

Andor gives the alliance co ordinates with ill grace, biting them out and refusing to even look at Jyn. The moment the course is plotted he storms away, face a mask of belligerence. Jyn watches him go and then throws herself into the pilots seat to stew. 

Han gives both of them up as a bad job and decides to play Saabac with Chewie. 

As it turns out their destination isn’t the rebellion, when the planet comes into view Han realises that Andor had brought them to an intermiedary. He’s a little insulted, even though he understands. 

He stays in tbd cockpit as Andor grabs his supplies. Jyn stubbornly stays in her seat until quite literally the last second. Andor has one foot on planet the other on the landing ramp. 

Jyn pulls up short halfway,

“Cassian...”

“I won’t tell command who extracted me,” He says shortly, his tone gruff and to the point. 

“Thank you,” Jyn says, he’s keeping her secret, allowing her freedom, letting her go. 

“I’m sorry,” she offers, because she is, for everything she’s said and not said, for all the could have beens. 

“Yeah. Me too.” He shoulders his pack, begins to walk away before half turning. 

“May the force be with you,” 

The memory of Chirrit almost elicits a sob. She misses her friends, but she’s made her bed. Now she has to lay in it. 

“And with you,”

She doesn’t look back as she ascends the landing ramp, pays far too much attention to the controls as it slams behind her. Separating her. Closing her off. It sounds final. 

Because it is final, Jyn thinks. And heads back to the cockpit.


End file.
